294 APPENDIX. 



the Metamorphoses of Ovid, will easily perceive how much 

 information on the nature and habits of animals our philo 

 sopher could have derived from the very character of the 

 books which had come down from the remotest antiquity 

 to the time of Aristotle (compare note 9, 17, 1), especially 

 if they bear in mind that the ancient teachers of physics 

 always compared the habits of animals with those of man, 

 and conjectured the causes and reasons of their actions, 

 from similar impulses in man. This may be seen in the 

 fables of ^Esop, for they contain the first elements of the 

 doctrines of the ancients on physics and morals. We might 

 also offer a surmise on Eudoxus, and Scylax, and others, 

 who wrote &quot;Travels Eound the Earth,&quot; in which they 

 described the animals of different countries ; for our philo 

 sopher appeals to the testimony of both these authors, 

 in his work on Meteorics, and elsewhere. There is more 

 doubt whether Aristotle used, or could have used, the nu 

 merous notices of animals, of the interior of Asia and 

 India, which the companions of Alexander, in his Asiatic 

 and Indian expeditions, brought back to Greece ; which 

 Theophrastus, the pupil of Aristotle, and his successor in 

 the schools, is found to have used so well in his History of 

 Plants. For this I consider to be proved, that the written 

 notices of the companions of Alexander were published after 

 the death of the king, though we have no proof of the exact 

 year in which they were made public. Indeed I have never 

 found any evidence in the History of Animals which could 

 lead us to suppose that Aristotle was acquainted with the 

 animals of the interior of Asia and India, by information 

 derived from the companions of Alexander ; nor have I 

 been able to find the slightest information from which I can 

 form a conjecture as to either the place or time when this 

 history was written : but, in order that others may institute 

 a more rigorous inquiry into the date and place of its 

 authorship, if any such have escaped my notice, I will 

 place before my readers that portion of the Aristotelian 

 chronology which relates to this work, from the disputation 

 of St. Croix, a learned French author (Examen Critique 

 des Historiens d Alexander le Grand, p. 603, second edi 

 tion). Aristotle, therefore, at the invitation of Philip, 

 King of Macedon, undertook the education of his son, Alex- 



